Publishing

UK companies organised by the CorpSignals industry, segment, and subsegment taxonomy.

Segments

Academic journals (1380 companies)
Books (15973 companies)
Directories (1061 companies)
Newspapers (1499 companies)
Other print (23152 companies)

Company snapshot

What this shows: the size and current activity of this classification, plus recent formations, company age, revenue coverage, and trade participation.

All companies

43038

Active companies

31132

Formed in latest 12 months

4610

Median active-company age

6.0 years

Revenue known

940

Importers

599

Exporters

506

Top values shown in the chart

CategoryCompanies
All companies 43,038
Active companies 31,132
Formed in latest 12 months 4,610
Importers 599
Exporters 506

Revenue coverage among active companies: 940 known, 30192 unknown (3.0%).

Company formations

What this shows: monthly incorporations and dissolutions from 1 January 2024, including companies of every current status.

Latest ten months shown in the chart

MonthFormedDissolved
2025-11379349
2025-12337432
2026-01459371
2026-02323440
2026-03338432
2026-04321342
2026-05360396
2026-06358272
2026-07424605
2026-08248333

Window: 2024-01 to 2026-08.

Company status

What this shows: all current Companies House status values. Companies House Active records with dormant accounts are shown as Dormant; the remaining Companies House Active records are shown as Active. Blank and missing values are combined as Unknown.

Top values shown in the chart

StatusCompanies
Active 26,950
Dissolved 11,606
Dormant 4,182
Liquidation 282
In Administration 8
Converted / Closed 5
Voluntary Arrangement 4
Receiver Action 1

Active companies by UK region

What this shows: active companies with a known ITL2 region. The UK map falls back to a bar chart if map data cannot be loaded.

Top values shown in the chart

ITL2 regionCompanies
Inner London - West 4,849
Inner London - East 4,518
Outer London - West and North West 1,617
Surrey, East and West Sussex 1,566
Berkshire, Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire 1,281
Outer London - East and North East 967
Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire 921
Greater Manchester 884
Outer London - South 842
Kent 819

Geography coverage: 30899 known, 233 unknown (99.3%).

Revenue ranges

What this shows: active companies grouped into the platform’s ordered estimated-revenue bands.

Top values shown in the chart

Revenue rangeCompanies
0-1m 17,733
1m-15m 2,092
15m-54m 60
54m+ 200

Revenue-range coverage: 20085 known, 11047 unknown (64.5%).

Company size and employees

What this shows: active companies by published size category and by reported employee count.

Top values shown in the chart

Company sizeCompanies
Micro 11,747
Small 7,319
Medium 20
Large 299
Holding 80
Dormant 4,182

Company-size coverage: 23647 known, 7485 unknown (76.0%).

Top values shown in the chart

EmployeesCompanies
0 6,907
1–9 11,154
10–49 614
50–249 99
250+ 6

Employee coverage: 18780 known, 12352 unknown (60.3%).

Active-company age

What this shows: how long currently active companies have been incorporated.

Top values shown in the chart

Age bandCompanies
Under 1 year 4,499
1–3 years 5,985
3–5 years 3,365
5–10 years 6,597
10–20 years 6,339
20+ years 4,347

Incorporation-date coverage: 31132 known, 0 unknown (100.0%).

Classification breakdown

What this shows: active companies across the next taxonomy level; direct assignments are labelled separately. The top 20 are shown and remaining values are combined as Other.

Top values shown in the chart

ClassificationCompanies
Other print 16,566
Books 11,720
Consumer & business magasines 3,306
Academic journals 1,006
Newspapers 994
Directories 647

International trade

What this shows: active-company participation in imports and exports, followed by the ten HS2 categories involving the most distinct companies.

Top values shown in the chart

Trade participationCompanies
Importer only 311
Exporter only 218
Both 288
Neither 30,315

Top imports HS2 categories

Top values shown in the chart

HS2 categoryCompaniesGBPAvailable dates
49 — Printed materials like books, newspapers, and pictures370£8,596,287,9842016-01-01 – 2026-05-01
95 — Toys, games, and sports equipment160£6,443,656,4982016-01-01 – 2026-05-01
85 — Electrical machinery and equipment156£33,510,522,7792016-01-01 – 2026-05-01
84 — Machinery, boilers, and mechanical appliances; parts127£29,361,013,0142016-01-01 – 2026-05-01
48 — Paper and Paperboard Products113£2,197,163,4212016-01-01 – 2026-05-01
94 — Furniture, Lighting, and Prefabricated Buildings85£4,079,817,0502016-01-01 – 2026-05-01
96 — Miscellaneous manufactured goods76£464,398,1282016-01-01 – 2026-05-01
90 — Optical and medical tools and devices74£4,009,990,3412016-01-01 – 2026-05-01
73 — Iron or Steel Products66£3,471,803,1822016-01-01 – 2026-05-01
63 — Various textile products, sets, used clothing, and rags60£2,230,330,8512016-01-01 – 2026-05-01

Top exports HS2 categories

Top values shown in the chart

HS2 categoryCompaniesGBPAvailable dates
49 — Printed materials like books, newspapers, and pictures355£15,826,223,1802016-01-01 – 2026-05-01
85 — Electrical machinery and equipment127£9,770,291,0042016-01-01 – 2026-05-01
84 — Machinery, boilers, and mechanical appliances; parts118£9,555,833,0622016-01-01 – 2026-05-01
95 — Toys, games, and sports equipment110£1,189,482,9922016-01-01 – 2026-05-01
48 — Paper and Paperboard Products81£466,232,5362016-01-01 – 2026-05-01
90 — Optical and medical tools and devices76£2,175,357,3182016-01-01 – 2026-05-01
94 — Furniture, Lighting, and Prefabricated Buildings58£810,022,1122016-02-01 – 2026-05-01
97 — Art and Antiques52£6,225,895,1692016-01-01 – 2026-05-01
96 — Miscellaneous manufactured goods48£43,129,0732016-01-01 – 2026-05-01
61 — Clothing and accessories made by knitting or crocheting46£584,307,2832016-02-01 – 2026-05-01

Business and digital traits

What this shows: active companies identified with selected ownership, business-model, and online-presence traits.

Values shown in the chart with data coverage

TraitCompaniesKnownUnknownCoverage
Family business 2,387 27,985 3,147 89.9%
Holding company 8 27,985 3,147 89.9%
Solo founder 16,023 27,985 3,147 89.9%
Ecommerce 175 608 30,524 2.0%
Website 739 765 30,367 2.5%
LinkedIn 496 765 30,367 2.5%

Leading active companies

What this shows: the ten active companies with the highest non-missing revenue, with company number used as the deterministic tie-breaker.

Top values shown in the chart

CompanyRevenue
The Random House Group Limited £255,133,870
Penguin Books Limited £247,168,000
Ironsource Uk Limited £118,832,679
Dorling Kindersley Limited £115,529,676
East Sussex Press Limited £72,919,425
Forbes Digital Marketing Limited £59,198,972
Gl Assessment Limited £57,917,000
Finixio Ltd £40,018,524
Label Worx Limited £39,250,765
Our Media Limited £38,304,000

Revenue coverage: 940 known, 30192 unknown (3.0%).

Related classifications

What this shows: sibling classifications ranked by distinct active companies, excluding the current node. The top 20 are shown and remaining values are combined as Other.

Top values shown in the chart

ClassificationCompanies
Professional services 811,244
Real estate 686,300
Construction 575,639
Retail 517,235
Technology 365,184
Hospitality & Food Services 309,768
Health & social care 272,823
Business support 258,874
Personal services 257,103
Processing & manufacturing 198,533
Entertainment 180,281
Wholesale 172,377
Transport & storage 171,657
Education 155,904
Activities for own use 141,864
Holding companies 139,236
Industry not specified 136,002
Dormant company 111,136
Maintenance & repair 108,015
Facility Services 93,797
Other 649,781